Debates, Diplomacy and Tritons
The party set out, made up of Everett, Tatsuya, Courage and Tenner, towards the Triton tribe. Taking a wide berth around the slumbering flame beast, the party was ambushed by a swarm of monstrous crabs. After dispatching them, the party moved on and arrived at the tribe shortly afterward. They had little time to relax, as they walked right into an argument between the two de facto leaders of the tribe: Sage Esteemed, an elder triton who wished for the tribe to live a more relaxed and prosperous life, focusing on using the land's resources to improve the lives of its members, and Codos, the younger and more pragmatic captain of the guard, who wished for the tribe to focus on its military strength and defence due to the emergence of many recent threats in the isles of myst.(edited) Taking Sage aside after the argument, the party learned that thae two could not come to an agreement, so they had decided to hold a tribe-wide vote to decide who would become the tribe's singular leader. Sage, however, distrusted Codos and believed that if he lost the vote, he would simply use his position as captain of the guard to overthrow Sage and rule anyways. He asked the party to meet with a spy named Lez just outside town, who claimed to have incriminating information on Codos. A brief conversation with Codos himself, however, revealed that he also believed that this spy held incriminating evidence; this time against Sage. The party met with this spy later, and through some strong-arming and intimidation received dirt on both Sage and Codos: Lez believed that the story that Codos had used to pull himself up through the ranks, about discovering a magical pearl while at the Second Site, was a complete sham, and his personal journal would bring this to light. However, Lez also believed that Sage had not been holding true to the socialistic beliefs he wanted to rule the town with, as he had been taking wagons of supplies out to a warehouse in the woods under the cover of night. The party investigated the tip about Sage first, since none of the party had the expertise needed to steal Codos's journal. They travelled to the warehouse, and with the invaluable help of a twinned invisibility spell, Tenner and Everett broke inside. The warehouse was heavily guarded by Sage's men, but full of supplies of all sorts stolen from the town. The pair managed to steal away a manifest containing a list of all stolen supplies, and while they traveled back to Courage and Tatsuya, the two sorcerers had an encounter of their own. Courage's raven spirit had discovered a strangely-coloured wolf tracking them some hours earlier, and while they were alone it revealed itself. Shifting shape, it turned out to be Eli, an old ally of Krakenfall, searching the isle for his missing mentor: a powerful Druid known only as the Guardian. He gave the two sorcerers a coin that could apparently summon him if they ever found the guardian, then took off into the woods. The party then reunited and returned to the tribe, confronting Sage with a forged copy of the manifest. He tried to lie to cover himself first, but became angry when he realised nobody believed him. He asked to see the manifest, but fled into the tribe when he had it in his hands. The party made a hard decision and went to Codos, deciding that a pragmatic fraud with good intentions would be better than an experienced but crooked liar. The party watched as Codos approached Sage, who had taken to ranting in the streets in anger, and presented him with the original manifest. With a heavy heart, the party and the triton tribe watched as Codos exiled Sage to the ocean, never to be seen again. Now as the leader, Codos forged an uneasy alliance with the Krakenfall missives, presenting them with his old waterbreathing staff and a number of magical items as a token of his thanks for helping him gain control of his tribe; an act that many of the party members were uncomfortable with, but it seems that it may have been the best outcome.